Feeling better

When all was said and done, we had a successful "Meet the Teacher" (Without Actually Meeting Her) night at school last week. We knew Liam's teacher would not be there, but the school sent home a nice letter encouraging us to come anyway. We talked it up to Liam and told him how excited we were for him to show us around his classroom. And after dinner, we walked over to the school as a family just as the doors opened.

The school was already packed inside, and even though we went in the big kids' door and down a hallway crowded with 6th-8th graders and their families, Liam was strutting ahead of us like he owned the place. He expertly navigated his way to the opposite end of the school, where his classroom is. And there we found... the door to his classroom locked, and the lights out.

I was hopping mad. I knew the teacher wasn't going to be there, but why on earth would the school send home a letter telling us to come anyway, if there wouldn't be anything for us to see? A few other families showed up and left again. We hung out for a bit, not quite sure what to make of it, and I spent some time kvetching with another parent who was equally upset about the lock-out. And it was lucky for us that we complained to each other for as long as we did, because eventually another teacher did come down and unlock the door to the classroom.

So we didn't get to chat with a teacher, but Liam gave us the grand classroom tour. He showed us his chair with his name on it. We found out that he sits between Maddux and Jessica. He showed us his cubby. We saw the teacher's desk with the bin of writing notebooks, and we saw the filing cabinet with the magnets that the kids move back and forth each school day to show their attendance. We saw some samples of Liam's work hanging on the wall, as well as photos of the entire class. We saw charts outlining their daily routines and the various play stations set up around the room. It was a really satisfying look at things.
And the fact that Liam was so happy to show us everything in his classroom, that he was so happy to be showing us around his entire school, made me feel so much better about the entire situation. I still don't have a complete handle on how things are going for him, but the evening left me feeling that things are probably OK.

On a related note, last night I joined the School Council and attended their first meeting. I wasn't entirely sure of what this committee did (since there is also a Home and School committee, and the line between the two was not clear), but I think the Council will provide some interesting insight to how the school is run and the policies they have in place. Last night's discussions centered around enrollment, the school year calendar, and neighbour complaints about the noise coming from the basketball courts. And it was a lot more interesting than it sounds.